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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Farm Life

When the rain stopped, the heat rolled in. After days of sweltering 90+ degree highs, the deep cracks have already reappeared. I am not made for the heat. My face turns bright red, I sweat profusely, and I can't drink enough water.

The June-bearing strawberries have pretty well concluded their season. We had a successful first year offering pick-your-own, which was lovely. Another 400 plants have been planted and hooked up to the watering system on a plot of the neighbor's land.

James managed to plant 50 grape vines, and only five show no signs of grown. That's fabulous, given that we planted in the worst of the clay mess and days of rain. Now most of the posts are up and only a few still need cement. Next will be the wire and strings. All in good time.

James has also tackled the weeding of the main bed and refilled where the corn didn't come up. Thanks a lot, pantry moths. I despise pantry moths. We'll plant sorghum for the chickena and see if we can provide some winter snacks for them.

I think we'll skip radishes and beet next year. We don't eat them, and we're not ready for market in June. We might skip the greens too, as I'm the only salad eater.

I can't remember if I mentioned our bush sweet cherry harvest was over in one day. The cherries were small, probably due to the dry, unusually warm spring. Our kids and friends picked all the cherries and enjoyed every last one of them. It was beautiful!

Our chickens have really ramped up egg production. We gathered 25 eggs, including one from Soup in her new coop. The pullers should begin laying in late June or early July.

The meat chickens arrived a week late back in April, so they weren't big enough by the butcher date of June 2. This reality makes me slightly sick to my stomach, as the massive amount of feed required each day clogs up the barn and is hard to obtain. What's up with no chicken feed in the stores? The meat chicks will be gone on Tuesday, so not much longer.

Laundry, spilled milk, books, and chaos fill our days. The weeds are growing to race the crops, but we're up for the challenge!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise. It's Purgatory Ranch.